


Slow Down

by This-is-my-otp (Zetalial)



Series: Tumblr Elricest ficlets. [3]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 20:11:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21434026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zetalial/pseuds/This-is-my-otp
Summary: After a rough mission that doesn't go very smoothly, Edward and Al need some time to recover.
Relationships: Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric
Series: Tumblr Elricest ficlets. [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1475240
Kudos: 43





	Slow Down

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt, asking for Ed and Al recovering after a rough mission (With Al still in his armour) and some nice fluff. Originally posted on Tumblr.

Ed stared at the few scraps of old parchment, all they had to show after weeks of work. It wasn’t good enough, it never was. His body ached and even the slightest movements were being accompanied by fresh waves of pain but he tried to ignore it, tried to focus.

Why hadn’t he been able to recover the entire tome? He remembered the cruel couple, guarding this knowledge with such fervour, they’d preferred to see it go up in flames than let it go. Had he been less impatient, less headstrong, maybe it could have been better.

Still, he stared at the old text, determined to find the secret behind it. There had to be something here! Some secret that would tell him how to fix Al. He couldn’t bear to have failed yet again.

Ed flinched as a gentle gauntlet brushed against his automail shoulder. He tried to lean away from the contact without causing himself too much pain. He couldn’t bear to face Al yet - maybe this time Al’s patience had worn thin and he’d rightfully blame him for everything that had gone wrong.

“Brother?” And Ed registered the hurt in his voice. Great, he’d hurt Al again.

Ed finally wrenched his eyes away from the battered pages to to look at Al, sitting beside him. Al’s gauntlet was still outstretched, frozen in midair. His perfect brother, always trying to comfort him when he didn’t deserve it.

“What is it?” Ed asked.

“Are you alright? You’ve been so still.”

“I’m just trying to decipher these notes.”

But Al reached over and gently tugged them out of his hands. Ed didn’t try to resist.

“That can wait until we get back to East City, where we’ll have our notes. You need to rest,” Al replied.

Ed was silent. He wanted to argue, explain that he needed to solve it now, but he couldn’t deny that Al was probably right.

After a long pause, Al spoke up again.“Here, why don’t you let me carry you upstairs? You should get some sleep.”

They were sitting at a table in the corner of an inn, a good train ride away from their disastrous last mission. They’d already bought a room and tomorrow they would catch another train back to East City. It wasn’t all that late, though Ed felt incredibly weary - not that he wanted to admit it.

He didn’t want to sit with nothing to do any longer so Ed struggled to his feet, trying not to wince from the fresh bruises colouring his stomach. Al took this as an assent and, with a gentleness that didn’t match his armour at all, bent down and carefully picked him up, trying to put most of his force around Ed’s automail leg.

Ordinarily, Ed hated to be carried by his brother but today it felt nice. Al was a steadfast presence, a constant source of strength and the cold of his armour felt good against his injuries. Not having to face the uneven stairs himself in his sorry state was another relief.

“Thanks,” Ed muttered once they’d made it to their tiny room and Al gently put him down.

He immediately walked the remaining step and collapsed onto the soft bed, letting out a relieved sound. He was tired. He could let his worries go until tomorrow.

“Oh now, you’re ready to rest?” Al demanded, but Ed could detect the underlying amusement. “Sit up, we should check on your injuries first - and I know you got hurt Ed, don’t try to hide it.”

Ed sighed. “You got that soothing cream still?” Al would be insistent about it so he might as well get cared for properly.

“Yes, I’ll find it, you take your top off,” Al said, before rummaging through their supplies.

Ed stripped of his jacket and shirt below it, struggling to work efficiently through his body’s protests. His left arm was already bandaged from a nasty scrape from a previous mission and the automail arm was occasionally sending painful twinges through the nerves. It wasn’t badly damaged, Ed was sure, but there were some minor issues.

“Oh my,” Al exclaimed. “Those look terrible! Why didn’t you say something?”

Why didn’t he say something? Ed couldn’t bear to complain about his issues when Al couldn’t even feel anything at all. This was his problem, not Al’s. Besides, the bruises looked ugly, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t alright.

“It look worse than it is,” Ed said. “It was my fault anyway.”

“Don’t be stupid! I saw you take that kick - I should’ve protected you.” Al insisted, as he knelt down beside the bed, remedy in hand.

“You were great, Al. Thanks to me, I upset them, and the book was burned,” Ed protested.

He couldn’t let Al take any of the blame. He hadn’t wanted to see any condemnation in Al’s soulfire eyes, but he couldn’t bear for Al to blame himself instead.

“I don’t care about the damned book! I care about you - Ed look at yourself, you’re covered in injuries! And you won’t slow down, you keep on pushing yourself to the limit.”

Ed did gaze down at himself, looking dispassionately between the fresh purple and black bruises and the older injuries - faded scars, tiny cuts and of course, his automail arm. Much of it would heal in time and the automail was his burden.

“They mean nothing to me, Al. Not for the chance to make you whole again,” Ed replied softly.

Al was slow to reply as he carefully applied some cream to the bruised skin as gently as he possibly could. Ed tried not to flinch but let out a relaxed sigh as the cool cream was nice and soothing. Then he winced as Al had accidentally pressed just a bit too hard.

“Sorry! Are you really sure it’s worth all this?” And Ed hated the note of worry in Al’s voice.

“Without a doubt! I will do better next time,” Ed promised.

“But you need to take it easy. Let’s just have some time to rest and recover,” Al replied.

“I’ll be fine within a couple of days.” Ed hated the idea of taking a break just for his own weakness. He didn’t want to just sit around useless.

Al sighed. “You’re amazing you know?” Far too stubborn for your own good. You know, if we hadn’t gone with your idea, we’d have never even seen that book - let alone recovered a few pages. And that’s not even mentioning the good we did in exposing that fraud.”

“But we still failed,” Ed said, feeling uncomfortable with the undeserved praise.

“But let’s take some time off - I need it, Ed. I will feel so much better when I know you’re okay. If something happened to you-”

“Nothing will happen to me,” Ed cut in sharply.

“I don’t like watching you get hurt - not when I can’t even feel pain anymore - it’s not fair.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I love you, Ed. I want you to know that it’s okay. You’ll never fail me, no matter what.”

Ed blushed, feeling awkward. “I love you too, Al.”

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, wondering how Al could look at him so fondly.

“Will you take a break for me? Please?” Al asked.

Some part of Ed realised Al was trying to manipulate him with his kindness. But Ed knew he couldn’t possibly say no to him, not when he was looking at him like that. And maybe he had been ignoring Al’s own feelings a little too much. If Al didn’t want to see him hurt, then he had to stop getting hurt. And a rest did sound rather tempting, he reflected, smiling slightly.

“Okay. We can take it easy for a while.” Ed said, smiling more brightly as he really considered having a holiday.

“Good.” Al said.

As Ed leaned back down, crawling into the blankets he found he was feeling better despite the promise to do nothing. It was nice to be cared for. And he owed Al the same level of care.

“Hey Al, if you want, you could come lie next to me - there’s enough room here. I feel safer when you’re next to me.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Al said but Ed could hear the smile in his tone.

**Author's Note:**

> Currently a one-shot but I may choose to add another chapter later about them trying to take it slow.


End file.
